Here in the Arkansas Ozarks, a billionaire is never very far away. It is remarkable for one corner in an otherwise rural state to have not one, but rather a multitude of homegrown billionaires — courtesy of the Waltons of Walmart fame, the Hunts of J.B. Hunt Transport and the Tysons of their namesake poultry and protein empire. But perhaps more remarkable is what the region doesn’t have — if you believe the local line: Envy and jealousy. If a big, new electric vehicle manufacturer decides to locate its research and development facility in Bentonville, bringing 500 high-paying jobs to the [...]

Topeka’s chronically vacant houses tend to be old. Twenty-seven of the 49 buildings on the vacant property registry the city maintains were built more than 100 years ago, Shawnee County Appraiser’s Office records say. Those houses also tend to have below-average appraisal values. Thirty-five of the 49 properties on the registry have appraisal values of less than $45,000. Twenty-four are valued at less than $20,000, and 13 at $10,000 or less. ... The majority of the properties are located in in North and central Topeka. Source: CJonline

A Reno County Sheriff's Department drone and the expertise of area natural gas industry professionals both proved key in managing an explosive fire at a gas plant outside of Haven on April 14, the county’s emergency management director said. The fire at the Haven Midstream plant on Halstead Road, about a mile southwest of the town of Haven, was initially called in as a grass fire, Director Adam Weishaar advised the Reno County Commission. However, the fire was so intense the National Weather Service contacted him in response to the heat signal that popped up on the radar, and the Kansas [...]